Former Pakistan batsman Ijaz Ahmed: “Look at the [Pakistan] cricket team now, 80% of it has gone to remote areas like KP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). If you select a team right now, 6-8 players are Pathans, who do not have [an] education”
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Former Pakistan batsman Ijaz Ahmed said the national team currently has six to eight players who are Pathans and “do not have [an] education”.
He noted that since they simply live their lives going for prayers with family members and spend the rest of the day at home, they cannot handle pressure in matches.
Ijaz received massive backlash for his comments, with many calling it disrespectful to those from the Pathan community.
“Look at the [Pakistan] cricket team now, 80% of it has gone to remote areas like KP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). If you select a team right now, 6-8 players are Pathans, who do not have [an] education. They wake up in the morning to go for namaz with their relatives or brothers and return back, and then they don’t leave their homes after that. When there is pressure on them [during matches], they cannot handle it,” he said on ARY News as quoted by NDTV.
The Pakistan team recently played in the 2024 T20 World Cup and lost to the United States of America and India before beating Canada and Ireland.
Even though they triumphed in those two games, it was not enough to get them through to the Super Eights.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
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